Feeding mechanism



Jan. 3, 1939.

E. C. SAUERMAN FEEDING MECHANISM Filed July 5, 1956 5.5heets-Sheet 1 Jan. 3,1939. 5 SA ERMAN 2,142,213

FEEDING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 5, 1956 Jan. 3, 1939. c SAUERMAN 2,142,213

FEEDING MEGHANI SM Filed July 3, 1936 S Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES A'TENT OFFICE FEEDING MECHANISM Ernst G. Sauerman, Chicago, Ill.

Application July 3, 1936, Serial No. 88,749

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in a machine for delivering transparent sheets to an envelope machine for making envelopes of the window type, and refers specifically to a rela- 5 tively simple device for feeding, cutting and deli-vering transparent sheets to the envelope machine per se.

Devices have heretofore been devised for feeding transparent sheets to a window envelope maln chine. However, these devices are characterized bytheir complexity and their inability to handle certain types of transparent materials, or more strictly speaking, :they operate satisfactorily only on materials which possess certain predetermined 15 characteristics. Many other materials are suited, and even more adaptable for use as window portions of window envelopes than those materials which can be used upon the prior art machines, but dueto the inability of such machines 20 to satisfactorily-handle these materials they can not feasibly be used.

Morespecifically the machines of the prior art are characterized in that they constantly feed a strip'of transparent materialforwardly to a cut- 25 ting zone wherein individual window sheets are cut therefrom. The cutting operation in its very nature,:however, is an intermittent operation and hence the constantly fed strip buckles during the cutting period. Subsequent feeding to the cut- 30 ting zone of a predetermined length of strip is thereby dependent upon-the resiliency of the material and .the ability of the buckled portion to straighten or spring outwardly into the path of the-cutting knife. Consequently, only those ma- 5 terialscanbe feasibly-used which possess this inherent ability to spring outwardly. Many materials suitable for envelope windows do not possess this quality and cannot be used. Others possess it during ideal conditions of humidity and tem- 40 perature but are'not suitable during other atmospheric conditions. Hence, the range of selection of materials for envelope windows has heretofore been 'ser'ious'lylimited.

.My invention is characterized in that it handles 45 with equal "facility all available types of transparentmaterials which aresuitable for envelope windows and even handles such materials with less difficulty than machines heretofore used can handletheir ideal material.

50 Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawingsand following detailed description.

"'Inth'e drawingsfFig. Us a top plan view of my improvedfeeding device.

55 FigJ'Z "is'asectional view taken on line'2-'2 of Fig. 1, illustrating the feed device cooperatively disposed with the usual uniting and folding machine.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a window envelope with adhesively united window. 5 Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5.is a similar vview :illustrating a different phase of cam position.

Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken on line 66 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an end elevational View of theswin shaftcam.

Fig. .8 is a sectional view taken on line 8-8 of In the manufacture ofenvelopes commonly-referred to as'window type envelopes such as illustrated'at l,-Fig. 3, an aperture -2is provided in the face ofthe'envelope and atthe rear of saidaperture, that is, the interior face of the envelope, a transparent sheet 3 .is adhesively united, the transparent sheet serving as the Window permitting inscribed matter within the envelope to be read or discerned from the exterior thereof. The-materials-suitable forenvelope windows comprise substantially any relatively flexible .transparent sheet material. However, due to certain imperfections in machines heretofore used to manufacture such envelopes, particularly that portion of the machine which feeds the transparent sheet material, only several grades of waxed paper or Glassine could be commercially used and still maintain the cost .of the envelope within competitive limits. It is admitted by the art that :transparent cellulosic material such as Cellophane makes a decidedly superior window but extreme difiiculty has heretofore vbeen encountered in handling such materials on machines heretofore .available.

Broadly speaking, one of the most popular and widely used types of envelope machines for making windowenvelopes comprises .a folding unit 4 and a feeding unit 15. My invention is particularlyconcerned .Withtheffeeding unit 5 which may be used with -a conventional folding unit illustrated at 4.

The unit 6 comprises aplatform 6 which may be mounted upon a suitable support 1. The platformt is provided with an opening 8 intermediate its area in which a plate 9 is disposed during the envelope folding operation. The ,plate 9 is carried upon an arm 10 which is pivoted at one end, as at II, to lug !2 comprising a portion of the frame of the machine. A rod I3 is pivotally connected to the arm H) as at M. The operation of the arm l and plate 9 is as follows:

During the folding operation of the envelope the plate 9 is disposed in a plane parallel to the platform 6. After the envelope has been partially folded, rod |3 acts to swin the plate 9 downwardly about the pivot point H, the rod l3 being actuated by a suitable cam or eccentric mechanism (not shown). When the plate is thus swung downwardly, an envelope which is carried by said plate is discharged to suitable conveying means (not shown).

A compartment I5 is provided immediately above the plate 9 and is defined by side walls I3 and end walls H which are disposed in substantially vertical alignment with the edges of the plate 9. A superstructure H3 is positioned above the compartment l5 and serves as a guide for a vertically reciprocating plunger rod I9. A plunger is mounted at the lower end of the rod l9, said plunger conforming with the horizontal sectional contour of the compartment l5 and being of slightly lesser dimensions whereby said plunger may be reciprocated within the compartment. One portion of the lower face of the plunger 20 is apertured, said apertures connecting with a source of vacuum (not shown).

In operation of the folding mechanism 4 envelope blanks 2| are positioned over compartment l5 in timed relationship with the movement of the plunger 20. A sheet of transparent material 3 is delivered by a feeding means to the lower face of the plunger 20, said sheet being retained upon the lower face of the plunger by means of the vacuum established through the apertures provided in said lower face. The blank 2| has previously been supplied with a quantity of adhesive adjacent the aperture 2. Consequently, upon downward motion of the plunger 20 the sheet carried upon the lower face of the plunger is brought into contact with that portion of the envelope l which in adapted to carry the window 3. As the plunger 20 descends into the compartment IS the flaps 22 and 23 of the envelope are folded by the cooperative action of the com partment walls and the plunger. When the plunger 20 has descended to its maximum depth within compartment l5, the face of the envelope is pressed between the plunger 20 and the plate 9 and the transparent sheet 3 is securely united over the aperture 2. Subsequently, the plunger is lifted and simultaneously the plate 9 swings downwardly to deliver the folded envelope to a suitable conveying means.

The mechanism hereinabove described is conventional and forms no part of my present invention. As h-ereinbefore pointed out my invention is concerned particularly with the mechanism 5 which cooperates with the conventional mechanism 4 and will hereinafter be more fully described.

The feeding unit 5 comprises essentially a suitably timed feeding and cutting mechanism which is carried by oppositely disposed supports 24 which may be mounted upon a base plate 25. The foundation plate 25, in turn, may be positioned upon platform 6 adjacent the folding mechanism 4. The spaced supports 24 carry at their upper ends a plurality of parallel shafts 26,21, 28, 29,

38 and 3| which are journalled in suitable bearin'gs mounted in the upper portion of said supports. Shaft 26 comprises the drive shaft for the mechanism and may itself be driven from any suitable source of power. Of course, shaft 26 must be driven in timed relationship with the operation of the plunger 20 in the unit 4.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 6, an intermittent gear 32 is mounted adjacent one end of shaft 26, said gear being rigidly secured to said shaft by means of set screw 33. The gear 32 is provided with teeth 34 formed upon a predetermined degree of arc of the periphery of the gear. The remaining portion of the arc is blank and comprises the pitch circuit of the teeth 34. A gear 35 is mounted upon shaft 21 and is rigidly secured thereon by means of set screw 36. The gear 35 is provided with two arcuately spaced sets of teeth 31 and 38, each of which correspond in arc length and number of teeth with the teeth 34 on the gear 32. Those portions of the gear 35 intermediate the sets 31 and 38 are blank and are arcuately shaped with a radius of curvature equal to that of the pitch circle of the gear 32.

The operation is such that when the gear 32 is rotated upon shaft 28 the gear teeth 34 alternately engage the sets of gear teeth 31 and 38 thereby intermittently rotating the gear 35 and, hence, shaft 21.

Shaft 21 carries a draw roll 39 upon its intermediate portion, the surface of said roll being preferably of soft rubber or other relatively resilient material. Adjacent the opposite end of shaft 21 a spur gear 40 is mounted which meshes with a spur gear 4| carried upon a shaft 28, said spur gears being in 1 to 1 ratio. Draw roll 42 is mounted intermediate the length of the shaft 28 and is disposed in osculating relationship with the draw roll 39. A shaft 29 is disposed adjacent shaft 28 and carries a pair of arms 43. The outer ends of each of the arms 43 comprise bearings in which the shaft 28 is journalled. An arm 44 is rigidly secured to shaft 29 and is connected at its outermost end by means of coil spring 45 to a portion of the frame of the machine. It can readily be seen, that by this arrangement the shaft 28 is in a substantially floating condition and is resiliently impelled, by means of spring 45, toward shaft 21. In this manner the surfaces of the draw rolls 39 and 42 are urged together under the influence of spring 45.

A web 46 from which the window sheets 3 are cut is fed between the draw rolls 39 and 42. Due to the intermittent operation of the rolls 39 and 42, the web 46 is intermittently delivered from between said rolls and is discharged upon an inclined metal platform 41 mounted upon a metal support 48 which, in turn, is mounted upon, and grounded upon the frame of the machine. The web 46 delivered over platform 41 is deflected downwardly on the end of said platform by means of the guide plate 49. A block 50 is secured to the support 48 by means of screws or the like 5|, the arrangement being such that block 50 is adjustable to a limited degree in a direction parallel to the support 48. The block 50 carries a cutting member 52 which is removably positioned upon said block by any suitable means. I

A cam 53 is mounted upon the end of shaft 26 and is rigidly secured thereon by means of set screw 54. A rocker arm 55 is secured by means of set screw 56 to shaft 3|. At one end of arm 55 a follower roller 51 is carried and the opposite end of said arm is resiliently anchored to the frame of the machine by means of coil spring 58, said spring acting to maintain the follower roller 51 in contact with the peripheral surface of cam 53.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, spaced arms 13 are rigidly secured to shaft 3|, said arms 75' carrying between their outer ends a hollow swing member 14, one face of which is provided with a plurality of apertures 15 which connect with the hollow interior of the member 14.

A cam 61 is rigidly mounted upon an intermediate portion of drive shaft 26. An arm 68 is mounted upon a corresponding portion of the shaft 30, said arm being secured thereon by means of set screw 69, and the end of said arm carries a follower roller 10 which is adapted to ride upon the peripheral surface of the cam 61. Arm H is also secured to shaft 30 and. is resiliently anchored to a portion of the frame of the machine by means of coil spring -12, said spring acting to maintain the follower roller 16 in contact with cam 61.

A plurality of spaced bosses 59 are formed upon a sleeve 60 which, in turn, is rigidly mounted upon shaft 30. An elongated screw 6| is threadedly engaged in each of the bosses 59. A sleeve 62 embraces a portion of the shank of each screw 6| and serves to space cutter blade 63 at a desired position from the axes of rotation of shaft an. The cutter blade63 is provided with apertures 64 through which screws 6| pass and a coil spring 65 is confined between the headfili of each screw and. the blade 63.

The arrangement is such that when a predetermined length of the web 46 is fed from between rolls 39 and 42, said length being determined by the gear ratio of the intermittent gears 32 and 35, cam 61 acts to rock shaft 3|] thereby swinging blade 63 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2. As can readily be seen in Fig. 2 in dotted lines, the blade 63 is so swung by shaft 3! as to pass adjacent the cutting member 52 carried by the block 5i]. The guide 49 during the feeding of the web 46 deflects a predetermined length of said web adjacent the cutting member 52 and, consequently, said web is sheared by the passage of the cutter blade 63. As will be hereinafter more fully described, at predetermined portions of movement of the shaft 3| a condition of vacuum is established within the hollow interior of the member 14. Just prior to the feeding of a predetermined length of the material 46 over the block '50, 'shaftSl has been rocked so as to bring arm 13 and the swing member 14 into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. "Therefore, the portion of the web 46 which has been deflected downwardly by the guide 49 passes over the face of the swing member 14. When this phase of movement has been reached shaft 30 moves to cut or shear the projected portion of the web 46 leaving the cut sheet 3 upon the face of the swing member 14. As will be hereinafter more fully described, a condition of vacuum is established within the swing member just prior to the severances of the sheet 46 and, consequently, said severed sheet is caused to adhere to the surface of the swing member 14.

A cam 16 is rigidly mounted upon an intermediate portion of shaft 26 and a block 11 is mounted upon the frame of the machine adjacent the path of travel of the cam 16. The block 11 is provided with a central recess 18 in which a cylindrical barrel 19 is rotatably positioned. The block 11 is provided with bores and BI which connect into the central aperture 18. The barrel 19 is provided with a connecting bore 82 which traverses the diameter of the barrel. A pipe 83 connects into block 11 making connection with the bore 80 and a pipe 84 connects with the opposite bore 8|. A flexible conduit 85 connects pipe 84 to pipe 86 which, in turn, connects into the interior of the hollow swing member 14. The pipe 83 connects to a source of reduced pressure or vacuum (not shown) and depending upon the position of the barrel 19,,periodically connects the interior of the swing member 74 'to said source of vacuum thereby establishing a condition of vacuum within the hollow interior of the swing member. A plate 81 is rigidly secured to the barrel 19 and carries on its face an eccentrically mounted roller 88.- A coil spring 89 anchors pin 90 carried upon the face of plate 81 to a portion of the frame of the machine whereby the roller 88 is normally maintained in contact with the peripheral surface of the cam 16. A relatively small'opening 9| is provided in the face of the plate 81 and connects with a registering opening in block 11 which opening in turn connects with the bore 8|. The aperture 9! registers with and connects with the bore 8| only when barrel 19 has rotated to a predetermined position disconnecting bores 80 and 8!.

In operation when the cutter blade 63 acts to sever the projected strip positioned adjacent the face of the swing member 14, roller 88 carried upon plate 81 passes to the low portion of the cam 76 thereby-swinging barrel 19 into the'position illustrated in Fig. 5. In this position communication is established by the bores 80 an'd'8l and a condition of vacuum is established within the swing member 14. Due to the provision of the apertures 15 in the face of the swing member, the severed strip 3 is caused to adhere to the face of the swing member. Shaft 3| is then caused to rotate by means of the engagement of the high portion of cam 53 and roller 51 and the swing I portion of cam 16, thereby rocking the barrel 19- to disconnect conduits'80 and BI. This movement of the plate'B'l brings aperture 9| into connection with the conduit 8| thereby connecting sai d'con t'iuit to the atmosphere and breaking the vacuum within the swing member 14. Simultaneously a condition of vacuum is established by well known means within the plunger 20 and the sheet 3 is thereby transferred from the surface of the swing member to the lower surface of the plunger. The remaining operation is carried out by the unit 4 and has been hereinbefore described.

By the provision of my novel feeding and severing mechanism substantially any type of material suitable for windows in window envelopes may be used irrespective, within limits, of the thickness, resiliency or pliability of the material. The operation carried out by the machine is simple and direct and the machine itself contains a minimum of movable parts.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an envelope machine for making window envelopes having means for adhesively uniting transparent sheets over apertures provided in envelope blanks, a frame, means mounted on said frame for intermittently feeding a predetermined length of a web of transparent material forwardly comprising a pair of intermittently operated draw rolls, means carried by said frame and operatively associated in timed relationship with said feeding means for severing said predetermined length of transparent material from said web into a sheet at the end of said intermittentfeed period, and means operated in timed relationship with said intermittent feeding means for carrying said severed sheet of transparent material to the adhesive uniting means,

' said means comprising a shaft, a carrier memher mounted upon said shaft and cam means operatively connecting said feeding means and shaft to rock said shaft and swing said carrier member to move the severed sheet to the adhesive uniting means.

2. In an envelope machine for making window envelopes having means for adhesively uniting transparent sheets over apertures provided in envelope blanks, a frame, a continuously rotating drive shaft journalled in said frame, a pair of juxtaposed draw rolls journalled in said frame, intermittent gears operatively connecting said drive shaft and draw rolls whereby a web of transparent material is intermittently fed forwardly by said draw rolls, another shaft journalled in said frame, a cutting member carried by said last mentioned shaft, cam means operatively connecting said continuously rotating drive shaft and last mentioned shaft to rock said latter shaft and move said cutting member to sever said transparent material, and means operated in timed relationship with said drive shaft for carrying said severed sheet of transparent material to the adhesive uniting means.

3. In an envelope machine for making window envelopes having means for adhesively uniting transparent sheets over apertures provided in envelope blanks, a frame, a continuously rotating drive shaft journalled in said frame, a pair of juxtaposed draw rolls journalled in said frame, intermittent gears operatively connecting said drive shaft and draw rolls whereby a web of transparent material is intermittently fed forwardly by said draw rolls, another shaft journalled in said frame, a cutting member carried by said last mentioned shaft, cam means operatively connecting said drive shaft and last'mentioned shaft to rock said latter shaft and move said cutting member to sever said transparent material, said means comprising a carrier shaft journalled in said frame, a carrier member mounted upon said carrier shaft, and cam means operatively connecting said drive shaft and carrier shaft to rock said latter shaft and swing said carrier member to move the severed sheet to the adhesive uniting means.

4. In an envelope machine for making window envelopes having means for adhesively uniting transparent sheets over apertures provided in envelope blanks, a frame, a continuously rotating drive shaft journalled in said frame, a pair of juxtaposed draw rolls journalled in said frame, intermittent gears operatively connecting said continuously rotating drive shaft and draw rolls whereby a web of transparent material is intermittently fed forwardly by said draw rolls, means carried by said frame and operatively associated in timed relationship with said drive shaft for severing a predetermined length of transparent material from said web into a sheet after said web has stopped its forward movement, a carrier shaft journalled in said frame, a carrier member mounted upon said shaft, and cam means operatively connecting said drive shaft and carrier shaft to rock said latter shaft and swing said carrier member to move the severed sheet to the adhesive uniting means.

5. In an envelope machine for making window envelopes having means for adhesively uniting transparent sheets over apertures provided in envelope blanks, a frame, means mounted on said frame for intermittently feeding a predetermined length of a web of transparent material forwardly comprising a pair of intermittently rotated draw rolls, a shaft journalled in said frame, a cutting member carried by said shaft, cam means operatively connecting said shaft to said feeding means to rock said shaft and move said cut-- ting member to sever said transparent material after rotation of said draw rolls has stopped, a carrier shaft journalled in said frame, a carrier member mounted upon said carrier shaft, and cam means operatively connecting said feeding means and carrier shaft to rock said carrier shaft and swing said carrier member to move the severed sheet to the adhesive uniting means.

ERNST C. SAUERMAN. 

